


Romance Starts with Tween Girl Fashion

by earthseaBorealis



Category: Homestuck
Genre: Aka Dave works at Justice, Alternate Universe - College/University, Filipino Karkat Vantas, Humanstuck, Justice, Karkat and Nepeta are Siblings, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-13
Updated: 2019-10-13
Packaged: 2020-12-14 15:48:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,594
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21018290
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/earthseaBorealis/pseuds/earthseaBorealis
Summary: It was the ideal Texas summer day, and while the majority of college students were enjoying the heat, Dave Strider was bored out of his mind while working a shift at the most ironic store ever, Justice. Good thing Karkat Vantas was out taking his sister to buy new back-to-school clothes.





	Romance Starts with Tween Girl Fashion

It was a perfect Texas summer day. With a high of 35 degrees Celsius, college students flocked to the frozen foods aisle in the nearby Walmart. Yet, instead of enjoying the weather or frying in the hot sun, Dave was uncomfortably slouched over a white countertop. A strand of his bleached white hair fell into his peripheral, but he simply swatted it aside and used it as an opportunity to slide up his rockin’ Stiller shades. 

One of his hands lazily held up the right side of his face, while the other drummed his fingers against the hard plastic. Of course, he was drumming only the sickest of beats, which were playing through the store’s speakers. And by ‘sick,’ he meant the sweet, sweet sounds of the Jonas Brothers’ newest song on repeat. He was a poor college student. How else would he spend the day really?

When facing the decision of picking a minimum wage job, Dave knew that he could only apply to the most ironic places ever. The nearby Boba shop, a failing Toys-R-Us, hell, he even considered Hollister. But, he knew where fate was leading him to. So that’s why he applied and got offered a job at the best store ever, Justice. Yah, sure he was the only guy working at the tween girl store, but he enjoyed every second of exposing his eyes to the flashy and neon articles of clothing. 

Sure, he had to deal with mothers who wanted to use more than one coupon on a time or who desperately assured him that yes, there was this size in the back, he just wasn’t looking hard enough. Yes, he had been called gay on multiple occasions and accused of threatening the public by working at a store meant for girls. But, it was just too ironic to stop now. Plus, he needed the money. How else was he supposed to pay for his kickass archeology degree? Not in any normal way, that’s for sure. And it wasn’t like it made his day when a little girl would politely ask if he could reach a shirt on the top shelf, please. Nah, he just had to use his height for the good of society. 

Anyways, it wasn’t a particularly busy day, as most adults were working or forcing their kids to play outside. So Dave had spent the majority of his shift counting the change drawer and restocking the store. Now, he was just watching the seconds tick away as he mindlessly scrolled through his Twitter feed. And don’t go saying, “but Dave! You’re not getting paid to sit around and play on your phone. Go do your work!” He’d been working for six hours already, and there was literally nothing to do. At least he was being a little productive by debating with his brother over the politics involved in birdwatching (crows were most definitely symbolic of a modern capitalist economy and no one could convince him otherwise). 

Soon enough, five minutes had passed by and he heard the loud footsteps of an incoming customer. Oh boy! Dave put down his phone and looked towards the door. It was an extremely short boy who couldn’t have been older than 20. He had a large scowl on his face and was clearly looking to get out of the store as quickly as possible. Ha, he literally looked like the polar opposite of the store. He was dressed in dark ‘mom’ jeans and a plain black sweater. Maybe he needed some authentic Justice scrunches to spice up his outfit?

One of his fellow employees had already approached the customer, telling him all about their special 30% off deal. He nodded but was clearly being dragged towards a pair of sparkly green cat ears by a little girl, probably his sister, clutching his hand. 

The boy’s face turned into somewhat of a smile as he entertained the little girl’s interest. Dave definitely didn’t internally ‘awe’ when the boy tried on a pair of matching red cat ears. The pair made their way around the rest of the store, picking up a few things here and there. Eventually, they found their way to the dressing room. 

Other customers entered the store, but Dave found his eyes lingering on that same boy. It wasn’t often that those of the opposite gender would go into the store. On a rare occasion, it was usually only an annoyed dad or dragged along brother. Dave simply rolled his eyes and sighed as he went back to ringing up another customer’s items. Though, out of the corner of his eye, Dave could see him applauding when the little girl stepped out of the dressing room and twirled for him. 

Dave ended up dazing out for the rest of his shift, but he was suddenly brought back to reality by the sound of clothes slamming onto the countertop. He looked up only to be met with a faceful of a boy with dark brown hair and dark chestnut skin. Fuck, it was the boy who he totally wasn’t watching for the last thirty minutes.

Dave broke the silence, “Heya, did y’all find everything today?” There you go Dave, just start the conversation off like you would with any other random customer. 

The little girl next to him replied, “Yup! These are gonna be my new school clothes! I’m gonna be in second grade!” She smiled the entire time, enthusiastically going on to tell him about how excited she was to be a ‘big’ kid. 

“Well, shucks, you’re going to be the prettiest little lady in the entire grade. You picked out some rad clothes here,” Dave smirked as he continued to ring up their total. Damn, this girl had some taste in fashion. That green cat shirt was definitely the epitome of coolness. Plus, she picked out that matching pair of cat ears. What more could you want?

“Heehee, thanks! Karkat helped me pick out everything,” She tugged on the sleeve of _ Karkat’s _sweater as she responded. Man, no wonder she liked cat stuff… she literally had a brother with the word ‘cat’ in his name. 

“Shoot, I wish my bro would take me to Justice to pick out my school clothes. You literally have the best brother ever,” the girl rapidly nodded, probably giving herself a concussion, as he spoke. “Well, that brings your total to sixty-six dollars and twelve cents. Will that be with card or cash?”

“Cash,” Karkat replied simply as he pulled out his wallet. Dave totally didn’t notice that it was shaped like a crab, and he definitely didn’t think that it was adorable.

Dave could hear the little girl whisper and ask if she could be the one to pay. Karkat nodded handed her a small stack of bills. She slid the money over to Dave, standing on her tippy toes to reach the top of the counter. Dave thanked her and handed her the bag and Karkat the receipt. 

“Well, I hope you folks have a good rest of your day,” Dave said. It was the standard response to any customer. 

“Thank you, Mister… Dave? You’re so nice. You should totally, like, take my brother on a date or something!” Fuck children and their inability to not speak.

Her older brother flushed and immediately scowled, “_Nepeta_, what has papa said about thinking before you speak?" Karkat then turned his attention to Dave, "Fu-frick, sorry about that. You know how little kids can be,” glaring at his sister while he spoke. 

“Don’t worry about it man,” Dave took a deep breath. This was his chance to have a cliche hookup that he had seen when he, ironically, watched a rom con with his sister, Roxy. He turned towards Nepeta, “and like, I totally would take your bro out, but I still have a half an hour left to work.”

“Let’s just say, metaphorically, that Nepeta and I still have some more stores to check out but, if we were to meet in, like, 30 minutes in the Dairy Queen here, then maybe you could join us,” he huffed under his breath. Karkat’s gaze was turned towards the floor and he bit the inside of his cheek as he waited for a response.

Dave’s eyes widened from behind his shades. He mentally was jumping up and down. Fuck yeah. He scored a date with a cute boy inside a Justice store. Now that was a story that John wouldn’t believe. Dave cleared his throat, “Oh hell, I mean heck, I’ll meet y’all there as soon as I get out. Just gotta finish my last… 27 minutes… or so and I’ll be out of here before you can even think of saying ‘two Reese's Peanut Butter Cup Blizzards with chocolate icecream,’ unless you’re like allergic to peanuts or something, then don’t.”

“Well, I’m already thinking about it, so I’ll take that as you being late,” Karkat retorted with a smirk on his face. 

“Nah, dude. I’ll run all the way there.” Dave ripped a piece of paper out of the notepad, that was meant for keeping track of customer’s coupons and returns, and scribbled down a nearly illegible strand of numbers. “And here’s my number if you need it… wink wink.”

“Did you seriously just wink out loud?” Karkat rolled his eyes and snorted, “Whatever, we’ll see you there soon.” 

Nepeta waved goodbye and skipped out of the store with Karkat. Dave’s eyes followed them out of the store as he dealt with the next customer. Only 23 more minutes to go…

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you enjoyed my first work in the Homestuck fandom! Feel free to check out my Tumblr: @culturalbloominggirl


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